Along with offering thousands of employees the chance to drive its new 2013 Dodge Dart this week, the Auburn Hills-based automaker also had some of the vehicle’s main competitors -- the Chevrolet Cruze, Honda Civic and Ford Focus -- on display near its headquarters for comparison.

Richard Cox, director of Dodge, said it was important to have the competition’s vehicles on display for the “Dart Smart Employee Challenge,” which runs through Friday, because Chrysler is confident that the resurrected vehicle can compete in the combative compact segment.

“It’s the single largest retail segment out there,” he told MLive.com Wednesday at the employee-only event. “It was important for us to bring this highly-competitive car into the market place – basically a segment we’ve been absent from.”

The last offering from Dodge in the compact segment was the Caliber hatchback. According to Cox, the hatchback segment only accounts for about 15 percent of the compact car segment. He said Chrysler expects the Dart to continue to grow in sales and take a larger piece of the compact market.

“We’re looking for continued growth,” he said. “And based on the indicators we’re seeing so far from our own internal hand raisers … (Dodge Dart) website has generated well over 1 million hits.

The Dart – available in five trim levels starting at $15,995 – is particularly important to Chrysler because it is the first vehicle jointly designed with the automaker's Italian owner, Fiat SpA. The vehicle is based on the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, a compact sold in Europe, but is wider and longer to handle Americans' need for more space.

So far, Cox said, Chrysler is “very pleased with the launch.”

Chrysler has touted the Dart as the embodiment of customization, with 14 interior colors, 12 exterior colors, six wheel options, three engine choices and three transmissions.

According to Cox, the two most popular engine options for the vehicle have been the standard 2.0-liter 16-valve Tigershark I-4 engine, which produces a best-in-class standard 160 horsepower (hp), and the 1.4-liter MultiAir Turbo delivering 160 horsepower and an impressive 184 lb.-ft. of torque.

The “Dart Smart Employee Challenge” started Wednesday and will continue through Friday at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills.

The challenge, officials say, is meant to educate and inform employees about the Dart. Employees can also compete in an on-line educational game to learn about everything Dart.